he made news shaking hands with cuban president raul castro, then took the stage to euligize mandela, describing him as a giant of history but human. >> he was not a bust made of march bell, he was a man of flesh and blood, a son and a husband, a father and a friend. while i will always fall short of madiba's example, he makes me want to be a better man. >> reporter: mandela's people were impressed. >> he had such great things to say about our leader, the father of our nation. it's great to see such a man that we admire celebrate one of our leaders. >> reporter: other world leaders spoke as did mandela's grandchildren. >> you tower over the world like a comet leaving streaks of light for us to follow. >> reporter: now the focus shifts here to pretoria. behind me the union buildings where nelson mandela's body will lie in state for the next three days. tracie potts, nbc news, pretoria. >> jim vance will be in south africa for the final tributes for his reports starting thursday here on news 4. >>> airline passengers stuck in the terminals for hours. tonight we check in on the delays as